Worm in the Pages
by AllenFierte
Summary: When one is pushed to the limit, one will break. That is how humans were, are, and will be forever. Some people will spout nonsense about standing strong through the toughest times. What a joke. We are fragile. We break. These are stories about those who broke and were remade. A series of short stories ranging from What-ifs to alt-powers to whatever else. Complete summary as Ch. 1.
1. Prologue and Info

When one is pushed to the limit, one will break. That is how humans were, that is how humans are, and that is how humans will be forever. As is right. Oh to be sure, some people will spout nonsense about standing strong, even through the toughest of times. Job, perhaps. He stood tall, even in the face of the greatest sorrows that the Devil could throw at him. People will point to his story, and say "There is a man who took what life threw at him and kept going." They forget that, like all others, Job broke. He fell to his knees and cursed God, cursed the powers that be. And then God came forth and took hold of Job, and the man was lifted back up once more, restored to his former wealth and more.

Because, while people will break when pushed to the limit, with a little bit of help; with a kind gesture or a supporting hand, they can rise again. And, like Job, they can become greater than they once were. Of course, it is altogether possible that they will just break, when pushed. It is, after all, called a 'Breaking Point' for a reason./p  
All said and done, the place that help comes from can be different. Perhaps, it is in the form of a divine blessing, or perhaps it is in the form of a mother's love. Or, perhaps it comes from the companionship of a legion of insects.

Do you know what I'm talking about yet? I'm talking about Taylor Hebert, a 15 year old girl living in Brockton Bay. I doubt quite strongly you've ever met her, though perhaps some of you have heard of her, but there it is. She was broken by the one she once called friend. After months of bullying, she was shoved into a locker full of waste, of garbage, of human bio-waste. And she was broken; her mind, shattered. Some would say that she was weak, emotional, caught up in the hormones that so often plague adolescent girls, no, adolescent children in general.

Well, whatever the situation, whatever the reason, the result was that Taylor Hebert was broken. And then she was saved. A shard of power, pulling her back to humanity and remaking her; better than she was before. I mentioned a legion of insects before, did I not? When she was saved, Taylor found a friend in the insects, well arthropods, technically speaking. Regardless, consider for a second. What if that shard of power, of hope, was different?

This is my take on the stories that could have happened. That which could have been, for good or ill.

* * *

Heyo, back at it again with another collection of short stories, in the same vein as GATE: And Thus They Conquered. Some of them will be crossovers, some won't be. Most will focus on Taylor, but some won't. (Spoiler, I have a few ideas about how to make Greg more important.) If you've read GATE:ATTC, no my other stories are not dead and I will continue them. If you haven't, I'd appreciate if you checked out my other works.

Anyways, I'll try to publish weekly updates for this story. If I don't, just PM me a bunch and bug me until I do. Thanks for checking my story out, and I hope you stay. Caio.


	2. A Certainly Strange Series of Events

A Certainly Strange Series Of Events

"Of all the days for the power to go out, it had to be the one when my dad was working late? Really life, this is just spiteful. I mean, I'm already at the bottom, why keep kicking me? I can't fall any lower unless I was six feet under. Which might be your plan. Ha… well, no help for it. Might as well run out and get some fresh groceries. Milk definitely. Maybe some hamburger too?"

List of new Worm terms used in this chapter, in case you're unfamiliar with the series.

 **Cape** \- Someone with super powers, be they villan or hero. Referred to occasionally as parahumans.

 **PRT** \- Parahuman Response Team. The government agency (Law enforcement in a way.) deployed to stop hostile or dangerous capes.

 **Brockton Bay** \- Setting of Worm. (Likely in New Jersey.)

 **Protectorate** \- A government-sponsored superhero organization that spans the United States of America and Canada. Works under the Parahuman Response Team.

 **Wards** \- A subdivision of the Protectorate for underage capes.

 **ABB** \- Azn Bad Boys. A gang made up of primarily Asians. One of three major gangs in Brockton Bay, alongside the Empire 88 and the Merchants.

 **Clockblocker** \- Male. Member of the Brockton Bay Wards. Ability to stop people or objects in time with a touch, though needs physical contact.

 **Vista** \- Female. Member of the Brockton Bay Wards. Ability to shorten or widen distances between objects or points. Youngest member of the Wards, though also longest member in the Brockton Bay Wards. Pre-teen at oldest.

 **Oni Lee** \- Male. High ranking member of the ABB. Teleporter that leaves behind ash clones when he teleports. Ash clones are capable of limited autonomous movement for a short time after being created. Generally used as suicide bombers via the grenades Oni Lee carries. Psychopathic murderer.

* * *

Taylor Hebert sighed as she jogged back towards her home, groceries slung over her shoulder. At some point during the day the power had gone out while she was at school. It was back now, but half the food in the refrigerator had spoiled. Well, maybe not all of it, but Taylor had no desire to eat potentially spoiled food, and so she had to run out and get more food. Of course she could just eat cold cereal, but without milk that just hadn't sounded that appealing. And dad was still at the docks trying to keep the workers doing their jobs and was therefore too busy to help her. Not that she had asked for his help, but that was mostly because she knew he would say that he was too busy. So now she had to get back home with fresh groceries, throw out the old ones, and cook dinner before finishing the mountain of homework she had. It was all really tiring.

Then tomorrow was Thursday and she would have to go back to… _them_. Emma and her gang of miscreants. She really didn't want to. Maybe she could skip? Call in sick or something? The school had never really cared where she was before, why would they now? Sure, it had been months since Emma and her friends had shut her in Taylor's own locker, and sure they didn't go quite so far anymore, but the bullying hadn't stopped by any measure.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by the street in front of her exploding. Taylor blinked. Not in surprise so much as this was Brockton Bay, where exploding streets were pretty common, but more out of reflex. Though she did step back in shock when she saw who it was lying there.

"What the hell," the girl cursed, as she stumbled away from the fallen body of one of the Brockton Bay Wards, Clockblocker. The hero's distinctive mask, white with only a clock's ticking face on it, stared back at her, even as the masked teen in front of her stumbled to his feet. Taylor's thoughts ran at mile a minute. The only reason for Clockblocker to be here was that there was some criminal. And not just some run of the mill criminal either. While Clockblocker was not the most physically capable of capes, it would take more than just a thug with a bat to knock him through a wall. And considering this was Azn Bad Boys territory…

Taylor swore again, spinning to run. Some part of her told her to go back and help the downed Ward, but common sense overruled that. Clockblocker was a cape, she wasn't. She was only a skinny fifteen year old girl, if he couldn't get out of this situation then there was no way she could help.

Taylor had only gone a few feet, before she was brought to a stop by the feeling of cold steel on her throat. She twisted her head and peered up at the visage of Oni Lee, hidden behind a leering demon's mask. "Well, great," she muttered.

Oni Lee gazed impassively down at the young girl. "Survival of the fittest, little girl," the man said quietly to her.

"Pah," Taylor gave a derisive snort, glaring back at him. "What goes around comes around, coward." That book of quotes that her mom got her, back when she was still alive, did come in handy sometimes, she decided. She immediately took back that thought as Oni Lee's eyes narrowed at her words and his knife pressed deeper into her throat.

Perhaps, she decided, it wasn't the best idea to provoke the psychopathic murderer with the knife to her throat. This was reinforced by the trickle of blood running down her neck and onto her orange t-shirt, a result of the razor sharp blade that her captor held.

The arrival of a third cape, Clockblocker and Oni Lee being the first two, drew Taylor's attention. The green dress was a pretty obvious giveaway to who she was, and Taylor grinned slightly as Vista's shoes clattered onto the pavement of the road; the young Ward having stepped from the top of a nearby building to the street as if she was simply walking down the last step of a staircase. Well, Taylor thought, considering the girl's power allowed her to manipulate distance that was actually pretty much what she was doing.

"Release the girl, Lee," the green clad Ward said. Though she spoke firmly, Vista's actions betrayed her unease as the preteen's head shifted slightly, turning her gaze towards her injured comrade. "She's just a civilian, she had nothing to do with this. You kill her, you'll have the whole PRT on your head."

Oni Lee shrugged, the motion pushing his knife deeper into Taylor's throat, the girl making a grunt of pain. "You're wrong on one account. I could kill her. But it is true that I would not like to do so," the man said, his accent distinctly Japanese. "But if I cripple her? Then you will stay here and tend to her and I will be free to run. Another crippled child is nothing on my record. I have done worse."

The masked man's form shifted, growing softer, more ashen though still real. Taylor would have cursed if she had been willing to risk her throat. As it was, she could only watch as the man began to reform across the street, leaving her restrained by his clone. The ash clone brought its left arm, the one not holding her hostage, towards her stomach and steel glimmered in the moonlight as it swung the blade towards her helpless form. Vista was already moving, rushing towards Taylor in swift strides, each one the equal of a dozen normally as the girl's power shrank the distance between the two of them. But Taylor knew it wasn't enough. And so she raised her hand up in a desperate but futile attempt to protect herself. As she did so, the fingers of her right hand brushed against the oncoming blade.

With a tremendous crash, like the shattering of glass, the clone and the knives pressed to her broke into a million pieces and Oni Lee let out a cry of pain from where he had begun to reform a ways down the street. One of his arms looked like it had been torn from its place, the entire forearm missing, and his left leg was shattered, fragments of bone jutting out at all angles.

Vista pulled herself to a stop, a few yards away from Taylor and gaped at the groaning villain who lay crippled in the street.

"What in God's name was that?" the tween asked, stunned, her dress fluttering around her as she slid across the wet pavement, snow melting in the warm April weather.

Taylor looked down at her right hand in confusion. "I have no idea," she admitted, stumbling backwards and falling to the ground in shock. The only thing she had wanted was to get some groceries and come back. Until a few minutes ago her biggest problem was Emma's gang of bullies and her homework, and now she was standing in the middle of a cape fight, apparently responsible for the incapacitation of Oni Lee, a villain with a kill count that had more names on it than she had friends. Taylor blinked and, after a second's thought, changed that to Oni Lee's kill count having more names on it than she had tormentors at school. After all, if she went by the first one, almost everybody in Brockton Bay qualified.

As she heard the wail of sirens draw nearer towards them, Taylor's thoughts turned to a phrase she had read in her mother's book that seemed appropriate for the situation.

"Such misfortune," she groaned, slumping onto the cold sidewalk, ashes from Oni Lee's clone swirling around her, even as the man himself clutched at his leg in pain. Now wouldn't this be a fun night?

* * *

Based on _A Certain Magical Index/Toaru Majutsu No Index,_ namely on the protagonist Kamijou Touma. (Anglicanized as Touma Kamijou.) Index is an anime that follows the adventures of high school student Kamijou Touma as he attempts to navigate that oh so troublesome time that is high school. Throw in living in a city where science is 20-30 years in the future, and add a dash of science created superpower wielding teens called Espers, and you have quite the recipe of disaster for our main character, who wields no powers himself. Well, no powers except for the ability to cancel any other power, be it Esper or magical. (Yes, there is magic. That's why it's called A Certain _**MAGICAL**_ Index.) Well anyways, if you liked this concept, I highly recommend you watch the anime. (Or read the light novel, if that's more your cup of tea.)

All said and done, I took some liberties with the story. Namely, Vista and Clockblocker didn't actually fight Oni Lee in canon Worm. But hey, if you're here for what basically amounts to slight deviations from canon with only different powers, I suggest you try a different story, because this is totally not for you.

Oh, and if you were wondering what happened to Oni Lee, it's because Taylor interrupted Lee's teleport. The contact knocked him out of the 11th dimension, the result being somewhat brutal. If you're a Harry Potter fan, just imagine that Lee got spliced with extreme prejudice.


	3. WormHammer

Note: Apparently I didn't make this clear enough, but this is not one story. This is a collection of short stories that center around Taylor, even if they don't have Taylor as the main character, but they are NOT related to each other. These are essentially one-shots, though many will get additional installments. Also, I've decided to update my stories on Fridays, so expect a chapter of something, if not this particular story.

WormHammer

"Where there is uncertainty, I shall bring the light that was denied me. Where there is doubt, I shall sow enough faith to stand tall where I was broken. Where there is shame, I shall point atonement to those willing. I am rage, and my rage will be made manifest. My bolter shall make apparent the will of the God-Emperor."

* * *

List of new relevant Worm terms:

 **Kid Win** \- Tinker. Male. Member of the Brockton Bay Wards. ADHD. Uses dual laser pistols in combat. Impulsive.

 **E88** \- Empire Eighty Eight. A gang made up of primarily Neo-nazis. One of three major gangs in Brockton Bay, alongside the Azn Bad Boys and the Merchants.

 **Glory Girl** \- Female. Classic "Alexandria Package" (See below) additionally with an emotion manipulating aura. Hero. Member of New Wave (See below).

 **Alexandria Package** \- General term for capes with superhuman strength, flight, and some degree of invincibility.

 **New Wave** \- An independent group of Heroic Capes operating in Brockton Bay. A family organization and the only Cape organization to disclose their real names to the public of their own will.

 **Armsmaster** \- Male. Tinker. Leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. Highly efficient, but with no social awareness. Excelled on the field of combat due to spending every second of free time training or creating anything to give him an edge. Harsh, but good at his job.

 **Gallant** \- Male. Member of the Brockton Bay Wards. Can sense and manipulate the emotions of those around him.

 **Max Anders** \- Male. Businessman. CEO of Medhall Pharmaceuticals. Villainous cape by the name of Kaiser, leader of the E88. Can manipulate any metal he was in contact with.

 **Dragon** \- Considered female. Tinker. Artificial Intelligence. Member of The Guild though also closely affiliated with the Protectorate and Armsmaster in particular.

 **Medhall Pharmaceuticals** \- Company based in Brockton Bay. Largest supplier of medical supplies to Brockton Bay and the surrounding area.

 **The Guild** \- A Canadian based group of Tinkers. Generally of Heroic persuasion.

* * *

Taylor Hebert gave sardonic laugh as she clicked the final metal bolt into place. In front of her lay a large, bulky, ugly hunk of a gun. It was long, three and a half or so feet. It was done. It was finally done! Three months of work, and finally she had finished! Taylor reached over and picked up a heavy metal backpack. It was heavy, and as she was Taylor would never have been able to pick it up. Sure she ran, but never really worked out her upper body much. And yet she lifted the metal backpack that she knew weighed at least a hundred pounds with ease, motorized servos whining as they gave her the strength to haul it over to the table where the gun lay.

With a crash, she set it down, even her mechanical servos unable to do more than stop her from dropping it hard enough to crack the table. The table still creaked under the strain, but Taylor paid it no mind, already turning away and walking over to a large walk in metal vault that sat across the room. There was no lock on the door, of course. There were no locks on anything in the house except the front door; after all this was Brockton Bay, where crime was the most common trade of the greater population. Taylor hated locks. Ever since Emma, her old 'friend', had locked her in her own locker…

She shook her head and cleared her mind. It was bad to think of her. It brought emotion and, while emotions were not bad per say, thoughts of Emma were a distraction. And there could be no distractions tonight. After all, Taylor thought, tonight she would cleanse these streets of the rot which so filled them. The girl stepped into the locker and let the door swing shut behind her. She shrugged her street clothes, a dirty t-shirt and jeans, onto the floor and grabbed a finely woven nanofiber bodysuit, pulling it on over her undergarments. Stepping forward once more, Taylor spread her arms and waited as mechanical arms swung into motion with an electronic whir. They locked thick steel-titanium alloy plates over her, encasing the young teen in a cage of cold metal. On its own, the metal suit would have just been a tomb, the sheer weight trapping her within its walls.

With but a thought, Taylor willed the mechanical muscles that drove the power armour into action. They growled as she forced her arms to move, the sheer might of both the suit's own motors and the assisting servos that she had installed into her own arms, her own flesh. Even so, Taylor could still feel the strain that it put on her body. At least she knew that she had been right to replace some of the parts with titanium to lighten the burden, in spite of the loss of defense.

She shrugged. In the end, defense was nice. But as a wise man once said, 'The best defense is a good offense.' Taylor reached forward and lifted a grim skull-faced helmet from its place atop a pedestal. She stared into the black holes that were its eyes, even as she drew it closer. With a sigh, the girl placed it on her head. With a hiss, it locked together with the armoured suit she wore. There was no turning back.

Taylor turned on her heel and headed back into the room, picking up the metal backpack from where it sat. She shrugged it on and grabbed the colossal gun from before. With a grunt, she reached back and pulled on a clip, bringing it forward and clicking it into place on the gun. Taylor smiled as she gazed down at the belt feed that ran from the gun to the backpack. 5000 total rounds of ammunition, 4000 standard rounds, 500 Metal Storm rounds, and 500 Inferno bolt rounds.

"I wonder," Taylor said, "Will it be enough? Well, it will have to be." She gave one last look around the house, before walking towards the wall. It parted before her with the grinding of machinery. Taylor sighed as she stepped through the path. "Goodbye, father," she called back, even as concrete walls slid back into place behind her. The workshop that she had left was cast into darkness, the only light the flickering of a candle illuminating the smoky trails of burning incense that drifted past a small photograph of a middle aged man with green eyes, hidden behind worn glasses. A card sat beside it. 'Danny Hebert,' it read. 'A father who tried his best. May his soul find peace.'

Taylor walked off into the inky blackness of the night. As she walked, she sighed. "Street by street and block by block I'll sweep them out. There are scum on the rooftops and scum in the alleys. Scum in the buildings and scum in the sewers. It's going to be dangerous." She tilted her head as if considering something. And a humourless smile wormed its way across her face. "It's going to be fun."

The girl brought her gun to bare, and pulled the trigger. And Brockton Bay _burned_.

* * *

Chris, Kid Win while he was wearing his costume, flew through the streets. Well, he corrected, not quite flew. That was Glory Girl's territory. The teenage hero more of hovered, courtesy of his custom made hoverboard. Typically he could travel at a good twenty or thirty miles per hour. But with afterburners active, that could double. And right now he was burning the afterburners at full power, rushing towards the heart of all the chaos.

He had been woken up at 10:00 and told to suit up. That in of itself was not incredibly strange; Wards were sometimes woken up at odd hours if the situation called for it. So he had gotten dressed and reported for instructions. And then he had been told that the Archer's Bridge Merchants had been slaughtered. All their capes lay dead, their grunts cut down or scattered to whatever bolt holes they had. Oni Lee of the Azn Bad Boys and a handful of his men were also no longer on the face of this earth, though it appeared that they had only been coincidental. The wrong place at the wrong time, as it were. Though for his part, Chris had been of the opinion that they had been in the right place at the right time. Good riddance to bad rubbish after all.

But if the reports that were streaming in were correct, the Empire Eighty Eight were also going much the same way as the dodo; that is to say they no longer existed. Or at least soon they wouldn't. And then they had been told the most terrifying thing. Apparently one person had done all this. In one night, one person had killed at least five capes, none of them particularly weak, and hundreds, if not thousands of gang members.

Chris glanced behind. Armsmaster's custom motorbike burned through the night, weaving in and out of traffic. It was faster than his hoverboard, but was restrained to the earth. He had no such compulsions, rocketing over cars and short buildings. Further back he could make out Vista, or at least Vista's power, as a PRT rapid response helicopter shot through the air at speeds that it should not be capable of, almost as if space were bending for its passage. Which it was. For his part Chris knew that the rest of the Wards, save Gallant, were on board; Gallant catching a ride with his on-and-off girlfriend, Glory Girl. The two capes were right above him, maybe a hundred feet or so. The beeping from his earpiece shook him from his thoughts and he answered.

"Kid Win here, almost at the target location. ETA one minute."

"Acknowledged, Kid Win. When you reach the target, do not engage. Repeat, do not engage! Potentially hostile cape; hold position and wait for backup." Dragon's voice came over his com and, glancing up, Kid win guessed that Glory Girl and Gallant were getting the same message.

A quick glance down at his built in GPS, which he had installed just the day before, told him that he was about thirty seconds away. Kid Win reached up and pressed a button on his helmet. His night vision settings, which he had been using to see around, switched off; replaced by a high powered flashlight. Zoom lenses magnified the cape's vision and he looked at his target.

A large mansion sat before him. Home of Max Anders, a suspected cape and leader of the Empire Eighty Eight. Not that they had any proof of that, so for the time being they had left the man alone. He was rich enough to cause them quite a few problems. The fact that his company, Medhall Pharmaceuticals, provided much of the medical supplies in Brockton Bay was just more reason to not mess with the man.

Though, considering how many E88 grunts there were scattered around the grounds, Kid Win was pretty sure that Max Anders' finances would be getting some scrutiny from the government. If he was even still alive. Kid Win shook his head to clear the thought from his mind. Sure, he didn't particularly like E88, considering that they probably would be fine seeing his broken, bleeding corpse crushed beneath their feet, but still, death was a bit harsh.

A flash of light and a loud bang drew his attention. He peered closer at the source and his eyes widened. With a thought, he slowly descended to the earth, barely managing to keep from puking. At least he hadn't eaten anything in the past few hours. The young Ward reached up to his comm.

"Kid Win here. Is there an undertaker routed to the target?"

His comm buzzed and Dragon's voice came across the link. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're gonna wanna send one. Because Kaiser is dead. About, oh, five seconds ago."

"What?" Armsmaster jumped into the conversation. "Are you sure?"

Kaiser was, after all, no pushover. The man led the most successful criminal group in Brockton Bay, and ruled it with an iron fist. With his power, sometimes that was a literal iron fist.

Kid shrugged, not that anyone except Glory Girl and Gallant could see it. "If he was Lung, perhaps he could have survived. But I can't remember Kaiser being able to live through having his skull blasted open like a ripe tomato."

"Eww, gross! Not like you had to tell us all that!" Glory Girl gagged. Even though he himself had been very close to doing the same, Kid Win couldn't help poking fun at his fellow cape.

"Aww, is the little princess afraid of a little blood? I'm sure you sister could take it."

Judging by the glare that Glory Girl sent him, Kid Win decided that he would steer clear of the girl at school. At least until she cooled down. Or until Gallant or Clockblocker did something to earn her ire, and Kid Win would be forgotten. Probably.

"Kid Win." Armsmaster's voice came through the comm. "Do not engage with the cape. If they are capable of taking down Kaiser on their own, then you cannot win. Glory Girl and Gallant, pull out as well."

Glory Girl did so without complaint, lifting herself into the sky. Kid Win nodded as well, and was just about to kick his hoverboard into action. He glanced back at where the cape had been, then glanced at the three foot long blade that was placed at this neck. After a few seconds, the blade was retracted, leaving Kid Win to stare into the skull-shaped faceplate of the unknown cape. He tapped his communication device, pausing when the armoured cape looked hard at him before stepping back and nodding. Kid Win took that as a go ahead.

"I'm pretty sure," he said into his comm, "that the cape ain't hostile. At least to us. Pretty hostile to the E88 and whatnot, but then again, most of Brockton Bay is hostile towards them, so that's not really a surprise." Kid Win paused for a second. "I could pull out if you want to, but there's not really any reason to."

There was a moment of silence before Armsmaster responded. "How do you know that the cape is not hostile, Kid Win. Please confirm."

"Ah, well that's because they haven't shot me out of the sky yet? Or cut off my head with that wicked looking sword? Or maybe that they're standing right in front of me? Oh, on that note I'd give the new cape a pretty high Mover rating, considering that she managed to close the distance between us in about ten seconds." Out of the corner of his eye, Kid Win noticed Glory Girl drawing closer. The teen glanced pointedly at her, even as he continued to ramble. "Also, please don't punch the giant mech suit, Collateral Damage Barbie. I'm pretty sure it's not gonna hurt me, and even if it was, you probably couldn't even dent it. Might piss it off though, and I'm not sure I'd live much longer if you did. But really, damn! This is some good stuff! Solid, lightweight, and tough! And…"

Kid Win was cut off when Armsmaster growled in annoyance. The teen blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Ah, sorry. Was I rambling? I should really get better at that whole focusing thing."

"A bit." Kid Win's eyes widened at the new voice. It was a girl's, though not one he knew. With a hiss, the source of the voice was revealed as the mech's helmet unlocked from the rest of the armour. The armoured helmet was pulled off and tossed carelessly to the side, letting the girl's, and it was a girl inside, long stringy hair flow free. "Sorry for scaring you… Kid Win is it? Not really used to this whole cape thing. Didn't really look you guys up much. Well, anyways, sorry 'bout that. But yeah, if I wanted to surrender, who would I talk to? You, or should I just wait for Armsmaster to get here?"

"Umm…" Kid Win blinked. "Armsmaster probably. He should be here in about… well about now, really."

With a screech, a sleek motorcycle roared around the corner, coming to a stop a few meters away. Halberd held at the ready, but not in a threatening manner, Armsmaster stepped from his iconic vehicle.

"Unknown cape. Put down your weapons and surrender, or we will be forced to take action. You cannot escape."

To emphasize his words, Gallant and Glory Girl touched down, surrounding the girl Kid Win had been talking to. Vista stepped onto the field as well, though she stayed further back.

The girl in front of Kid Win just shrugged, unperturbed, tossing her gun to the side. "Sure thing Mr. Armsmaster. I wasn't planning on fighting you anyways."

Kid Win watched as the strange girl was guided to in one of the PRT's many high security vans. And he sighed, tilting his head back so that he could stare at the cloudy heavens. Then he glanced back down at the helmet that the girl had discarded. Walking over, he picked it up and turned it over in his hand.

And Kid Win frowned. There was a symbol engraved in the side. It was a symbol the the teen thought seemed familiar, though he couldn't place it. An eagle's wings spread out wide, a blazing gold that stood out against matte black of the helmet. With a quick press of a button, Kid Win's helmet took a picture of the symbol. He'd post it on PHO later to see if anyone could recognize it.

For now, the Ward just wandered over to a nearby rock and sat down. He didn't know what was going to happen, but whatever it was, Brockton Bay would never be the same. Not with the three largest gangs lying in ruins and hundreds, or possibly thousands, dead.

* * *

Based on Warhammer 40,000, a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. In general, I will admit that my knowledge of WH40K is somewhat lacking. I sort of get the Orks. (Considering that, in general, the orks have little depth. And ork lore doesn't matter much. It really amounts to "One ork hit another ork, and then the one ork was now in charge.) And I kinda understand the humans, but I don't know jack about the Eldar or the Necrons or what have you. Pretty much what I know comes from the fanfiction, like the _Inquisitor Carrow Series_ (Harry Potter/WH40K), _Acolyte_ (Worm/WH40K), _For Those We Cherish_ (RWBY/WH40K), _Herald of the Void_ (Familiar of Zero/WH40K), _Shinji and Warhammer 40K_ (Neon Genesis Evangelion/WH40K), _Jar Jar and Warhammer 40K_ (Star Wars/WH40K), _The Swarm of War_ (Starcraft/WH40K), and _A World of Bloody Evolution_ (RWBY/WH40K).

So, suffice to say, I'm not really much of a Warhammer 40K nerd. But hey, I do my best. Also, I know that Taylor should be Adaptus Soleilus or something similar, not Astreas. Bite me, I don't care. Astreas are cooler, and mostly what I'm familiar with.


	4. A Great Teacher

"Hey. What's goin' on over here?"

Taylor's heart jumped. It was that new substitute teacher, the Japanese one. She tried to beat on the door of her locker to get his attention, but with her arms and legs bound and a gag in her mouth, such a feat was difficult. She only managed to slightly bump the metal door that held her hostage, nowhere near loud enough to attract his attention.

"Oh, nothing teach," Emma said, her voice full of false saccharine charm. Taylor could just imagine the innocent look on her face, as her former friend-turned bully's cliche surrounded the locker she was trapped in. "Just talking with some friends."

"What if I say I don't believe you?" the teacher asked. A glimmer of hope filled Taylor. Maybe she'd be freed from this bloody—and she meant that in the most literal sense of the word—prison.

"Why, are you accusing _ High's best student and best track student of lying? It's almost like you don't want to ever be hired here again!"

Taylor's heart sunk when there was no response. Finally the teacher gave a tired sigh. Taylor could hear the man's footsteps fading away. The thread of hope that Taylor had been clutching at crashed to nothingness. In the end, he was just like all the others. Like all the adults; content to ignore others if it meant getting ahead themselves. Then his footsteps paused.

"You know," he said. "You're right. I don't."

"Excuse me?" Emma's voice. She sounded confused. Taylor was as well. Was he…

"Like you said. I don't really want to be hired here again. Means I can do something like this."

Taylor heard the sound of something crashing into the locker next to her. The pained wailing followed quickly after. Taylor could make out the sound of flesh pounding flesh and the cries of Emma's cliche. Finally the noise died down.

She yelped into her gag in surprise as a bloody fist punched through the metal door of her locker. The person on the other side gave a grunt of exertion and with a screech of metal, the door was torn from it's hinges. Taylor fell out of the locker, and was only stopped from collapsing to the ground by a pair of arms wrapping around her.

The still bound girl looked into the face of her rescuer. Taylor was happy to be saved. Her savior wasn't exactly handsome, but there was a roguish kind of charm about him. The lanky girl shook her head to clear that thought. She blamed hormones.

Then she looked around and her eyes widened in shock. Emma's cliche lay scattered about the hallway, as if they had been hit by a hurricane. Emma herself was slumped next to the locker Taylor had been locked in, clutching what looked to be a broken nose. Madison was next to her, nursing her arm. Tears streamed down both girl's faces. Most of the other members of Emma's cliche were the same, clutching arms or holding their stomachs and gasping for breath. Only Sophie remained untouched, standing across the hall from Taylor fists raised warily.

The substitute teacher glanced over at Sophie. His foot shot out and kicked the damaged metal locker door towards her. Sophie was taken by surprise, and she cried out in pain as the metal projectile slammed her into the wall. She collapsed to the ground, face bloodied. The pounding of feet on tile heralded the arrival of Principle Blackburn. She stared in horror at the scene before her.

"Who did this!" she demanded. Taylor was lowered to the ground and set in a sitting position. The man responsible for it then raised his hand.

"Me." He glanced over at where he had set Taylor before amending his statement. "Well, not the skinny girl over there with the ropes and the gag. But the rest of them were me."

Principle Blackburn goggled at the audacity of the man. Taylor agreed with the sentiment. To just admit that he had beaten up a bunch of schoolgirls, and more than that to sound proud about it… Principle Blackburn quickly regained her composure.

"Such behavior is not acceptable! Rest assured, the police will be called! You'll regret this, Mr. Onizuka!"

Ah, Taylor thought to herself. Onizuka. So that was his name. Onizuka shrugged carelessly. "I regret nothing!" he shot back. Then he paused. "Well, I suppose I regret not kissing that one girl back then. And not spending more time with Ryuji. Oh, and I regret not eating that slice of pizza today…"

He continued to list the things that he didn't regret—and it turns out that for a man that professed not having any regrets, he had quite the large number of such—and Taylor smiled slightly. Maybe things weren't all bad after all. As Blackburn began to rant at Onizuka and Onizuka ignored her in favor of listing the kinds of pizza he regretted not ordering for lunch, Taylor began to shake with muffled laughter. Beside her, Emma continued to sob in pain. It was music to Taylor's ears.

* * *

So. I'm not dead. Life happens, I guess? Anyways, shorter chapter than normal. Moving forwards, most of my chapters will be much closer to this length, as it's easier for me. Long chapters are just so draining. Hey, if you want me to update more or want a specific chapter leave a review.


	5. Build not your House upon lies

**Build not your House upon lies**

List of new Worm terms used in this chapter, in case you're unfamiliar with the series.

 **Piggot** \- Head of the Parahuman Response Team, Brockton Bay branch.

 **Shadow Stalker** \- Female. Real name, Sophia Hess. Member of the Brockton Bay Wards. Ability to transform into shadows, though vulnerable to electricity. One of the people responsible for bullying Taylor until she triggered. Has a 'Survival of the fittest' mentality.

 **Panacea** \- Female. Member of New Light. Can heal injuries through biological control/biological editing. 15. Self-confidence issues; is in love with her sister Glory Girl due to prolonged exposure to her sister's aura.

* * *

Dr. Gregory House was flipping through the countless folders. Hallucinations, heart problems, liver damage; definitely drugs, most likely Merchants. Burn victims; burn marks in the shape of Nazi swastikas so that would be E88. Blade wounds? ABB, maybe. Regardless, it was all so boring! Pointless, pointless, so pointless. Why were there no fun patients?

The intercom whirred to life. "Panacea to floor 3, room 14. ER ward."

House sighed. Right. That's why. Panacea. Some of his fellow doctors hated that girl. Said she was stealing their jobs. Wilson and Cuddy were probably two of the people most in favor of her existence. After all, cancer wasn't something that Wilson could cure. Diagnose, sure. But never cure. Before Panacea, House's closest—and probably only—friend was forced to watch as his patients withered away.

House couldn't really sympathize with the man—his patients never died, but then, his patients weren't suffering from stage 4 cancer. Usually they were suffering from stage 1 'What the Hell even is this?' Moot point. Of course, Cuddy liked the girl. She saved lives, and that's what Cuddy wanted.

For his part, House sat somewhere in-between. He couldn't hate the girl. She was, if anything, honest. Sometimes brutally so. Well, honest in anything not related to her feelings for her sister. But then, that wasn't really a field that House dealt with. Teens and their emotions. A terrible condition that not even he could solve. He didn't mind her healing his patients either. It just meant less people he had to interact with. What annoyed him was that, she stole all the interesting patients. Well, most. She left him those suffering from some mental condition. Couldn't do brains, or so she said. House knew she was lying, though he doubted anyone else did. But then, he was the deranged genius diagnostician. He noticed things. It's what he did.

However, that was one lie that he understood. Lies are nasty little things. It's why House had promised that he would never lie to people. In any serious situation, that is. He still lied to Wilson all the time. Honestly, that man needed to learn that when House said "I'll return your wallet," he definitely didn't mean it. But he knew that some lies are necessary. He wasn't a psychologist, but he could see that if that girl had any more pressure put on her, she'd snap. So House let her have her secret. Well, that and it was amusing to hear his fellow doctors whine about her behind closed doors. It was nice to have another person that could show them up; him in diagnostics, her in actually healing them.

With a groan, House rose from his chair. Even if there weren't any interesting patients, he might as well go do something. He pulled a pair of dice from his pocket and tossed them onto his desk. 3 and 7. 21. Lucky. Well then, floor 3, ward seven, room 21 it was.

Taylor groaned as she opened her eyes. The girl peered around the white walled room she was lying in. It was a hospital room. Someone must have rescued her from her locker, though she didn't know who. The janitor, maybe? Her thoughts were interrupted by the door bursting open. A slovenly dressed man stepped inside, spinning a cane in his hand.

"So," he said, "what's wrong with you?"

"Excuse me?" Taylor asked, confused. She was still disoriented from just waking up, and now there was a random man in her room asking questions that she wasn't sure if she should answer.

A nurse burst into the room and glared at the cane-wielding man. "Dr. House! You can't just come barging into a patient's room!"

The man-Dr. House, Taylor supposed-blinked and stopped spinning his cane. "Hmm," he said. "She's at the hospital because of some reason or another, and needs a doctor. I'm a doctor. So… I believe I can."

The nurse glared harder. "She's not your patient, Dr. House! Dr. Cheng is…"

"Wait, stop." Dr. House held up a hand. "She's Dr. Cheng's patient? The… why, that man is even worse at dealing with children that I am! For God's sake, why on Earth would you assign him to someone who's clearly suffering from anxiety, depression, has massive issues with her self confidence, and is probably here because of a severe case of bullying?"

His response seemed to flummox the nurse and she pulled up short. "Bullying? Depression? What are you talking about, Dr. House? She had a stroke because of stress."

Dr. House rolled his eyes. "A stroke? What idiot diagnosed that? She's clearly suffering from toxic shock syndrome! It… the two don't even look remotely similar!"

"But…" he seemed to have the nurse on the back foot at this point. "The girls who brought her in said…"

"The girls who brought her in said," Dr. House shot back mockingly. "And I'm sure you based your wonderfully idiotic diagnosis of a stroke on what they said? God, how do you people even become doctors? Fine, since none of you are apparently even remotely competent enough to do basic medicine, I'm taking over her case."

"Dr. Cheng won't be happy with you," the nurse said. Dr. House rolled his eyes.

"Tell me. Who's a senior fellow with this hospital? Who's the best damn diagnostician in Brockton Bay? Who's the man who Cuddy has been bothering about actually doing work? That's right, me. So if I go to Cuddy and tell her that I'm taking over the care of this girl, what do you think her response will be? It'll be 'Good to see you taking some initiative for once, House.'" Dr. House pointed to the door. "Now get out and let me do your job for you."

Wordlessly the nurse stepped outside, sliding the door closed after her. Dr. House turned back to Taylor.

"Now that that's taken care of, let's practice medicine." Taylor looked at him.

"How'd you figure all that?"

Dr. House glanced at her. "Figure what?"

"That I'm, quote, 'suffering from anxiety, depression, has massive issues with her self confidence, and is probably here because of a severe case of bullying?'" Taylor said.

"Simple. The first two? All teenagers have anxiety and depression." Taylor nodded. Fair enough, she supposed. Dr. House continued on. "You're tall for your age, but in spite of that aren't particularly developed in certain areas. That's always a sore spot for girls, so issues with self confidence." His words made Taylor grimace. Yeah, the size of her breasts was a bit of a confidence breaker. Especially considering how developed Emma was, and how often the other girl brought it up. "Also when I came in, you shrank away from me, unsure of how to react. And as for the bullying? Your fingernails are chipped, and there's trace amounts of some sort of metal filings on them. Almost as if you had attempted to claw your way out of a metal box of some description. Like, for instance, a high school locker."

Taylor blinked. "You're observant."

Dr. House shrugged. "I'm a diagnostician. It's what I do. Now, let's see what's wrong with you."

* * *

"Excuse me, Director Piggot. There's a Dr. House to see you. He doesn't have an appointment, but he's insisting that you'll meet with him." Emily Piggot looked up from her paperwork. House had come here? Curious. Well, she supposed she could use a break from dealing with all the logistics of running an overtaxed and underfunded organization in one of the most crime-infested cities in the country.

"Send him up," she informed her secretary. "He's an old friend."

Piggot went back to her paperwork as she waited for House to arrive. After a minute or so, her office door crashed open and House limped in. Piggot put down the document she was looking over-budgeting concerns, as usual.

Piggot smiled faintly. "Good to see you, Greg. It's been a while."

House shrugged, dropping into one of the chairs in front of her desk. "Emily. Yeah, it's been years. Kidneys still working like shit?"

"Aye. Better that they work like shit than don't work for shit though. What do you want anyways?" Piggot asked.

"Can't a doctor just show up to see how a former patient and old friend of his is doing?" House said.

Piggot rolled her eyes. "You hate people, Greg. I'm sure I'm one of the very few people on your friends. You also hate your friends. Honestly, I have no idea how Wilson's put up with you for all these years."

"Hell if I know." House sighed. "But yeah, I need to talk about one of your Wards."

"Damn," Piggot muttered under her breath. "Fucking Capes. More trouble than they're worth. Which one?"

House pulled out a folder and tossed it in front of Piggot. "Sophia Hess. Shadow Stalker."

Piggot grabbed the folder and pulled it towards her. She paused, about to open it. "I suppose you're not going to tell me how you found out who she was?" House smirked at her. "Well, you always were one to disregard the law. This isn't going to be about her vigilante justice, is it?"

House shook his head. "Nope. Considering that my general method of medical treatment is to ignore almost all basic safety guidelines, I can't really fault someone who operates outside the law, can I? Bit more damning than that."

"I'm not going to like what I read here, am I?" Sighing, Piggot began reading through the dossier. When she finished, she slammed it shut, anger clearly evident on her face. She grabbed her office phone. "Sarah? Effective immediately, detain Agent Fields and Shadow Stalker and send Armsmaster and Aegis to my office. Yes, that is an order. Severity 3. Do it."

"You seem pissed," House said, flicking through a rubik's cube he had pulled from his pocket. "Haven't seen you this mad at anyone in a long time."

"I trust your medical report, but how accurate is the rest?" Piggot asked.

House frowned. "Firsthand report. Stopped by the school and watched. Winslow doesn't care much about another druggie lying around outside, you know? What with the amount of Merchants and all that."

"Damn." Piggot sighed. "This is going to be a shitstorm, isn't it? Damn, damn, damn!" She slammed a fist onto her desk, breathing hard. Collecting herself, she addressed House again. "How'd you get involved anyways? This doesn't sound like your normal problem. You solve impossible medical issues, not long running bullying campaigns."

"Well, that's the good news. You might get another Ward to replace Shadow Stalker." House smiled, though there was no humor in his gaze. "Turns out that Sophia's usual victim triggered. She got brought into my hospital. Very normal case. Probably would have fallen by the wayside if Cuddy hadn't been bothering me to actually put my team to use."

House stood up and strolled towards the door, leaving Piggot alone to read through the damning report on Shadow Stalker once again. Heads would roll for this.

* * *

Yo. I'm back. Sorta. Yay. Read and Review, or message me on Steam to motivate me. Or don't, whatever.


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